Residents need to feel safe after deadly crash and fire near Middlesbrough, council leader says

A composite image of Natalie McDonald and Valentina Foster. McDonald is wearing a white wedding dress with a tiara perched on her head. She has long dark hair and is holding a bouquet of white roses with four blue ones dotted within it. Valentina wears an electric blue dress with white flowers on the neckline and waist. She has long light brown hair with a blue and white headband. She is holding a small white basket with white and blue roses and she wears white gloves. — Image caption,

The family of Natalie McDonald and her niece Valentina Foster have paid tribute to them

ByJason Arunn MurugesuNorth East and Cumbria

People living in a town where nine people have been killed in a crash and fire in the past week deserve to “feel safe in their own homes”, a council leader has said.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council leader Alec Brown’s comments come after seven people, including two police officers, died in a car crash at South Bank, near Middlesbrough, on Saturday and a 34-year-old woman and seven-year-old girl died in a house fire in Grangetown on Wednesday.

Brown told Radio 4’s Today programme he had called an “urgent meeting” on Friday among councillors, police and social housing providers.

Teesside MPs also called for the government to provide more support for police and firefighters in the area.

Police have made several arrests in connection with the recent deaths.

Brown said he understood people from parts of Middlesbrough and Redcar might feel “left behind”.

“I’m from an estate, from the same ilk,” he said.

“You live around people that may be suffering poverty or other social issues, it can be that uniform sort of consciousness that ‘we’re left behind’.

“But I can assure the people of Grangetown and South Bank – they’re as important to me as a people from any other state in the borough and we’re working tirelessly to ensure that they do feel safe in their own houses.”

Pictures of the two officers. Both are smiling. PC Blades, left, has stubble and short fair hair. PC Clough also has stubble and short dark hair. — Image caption,

PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough were killed in the crash near Middlesbrough on Saturday

Labour MPs Anna Turley, Luke Myer, Andy McDonald, Jonathan Brash and Chris McDonald said in a joint statement their communities deserved to “feel safe”.

They said they welcomed the help of other police forces during the past week but called for more long-term support for officers in the area.

They said local residents had expressed “safety concerns” for “far too long”.

PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough died on Saturday when a Volkswagen Passat, going the wrong way on the A66 at South Bank hit their vehicle.

The five young men in the Volkswagen also died.

Police said 17 people, aged between 18 and 61, had been arrested across Teesside as part of an ongoing investigation into the lead-up to the crash.

They have been held on a range of offences, including possession of a firearm and being part of an organised crime group.

Five young men in their late teens and early 20s. They all have similar haircuts, with a fringe and faded back and sides. Four of them are gesturing with their fingers. Three of them extend their thumb, index, and pinky fingers - leaving their middle and ring finger tucked down. One points with his index and middle finger whilst holding a Lucozade bottle. They are all dressed in casual clothing. — Image caption,

The five killed in the car crash were Jakub Matusiak, Makai Saddington, Theo Ray, Michael Robert Cahill and Cole Robert Worthy

On Wednesday Natalie McDonald, 34, died along with her seven-year-old niece, Valentina Foster, in the fire in Grangetown.

Cleveland Police said the blaze had also left a 48-year-old woman in a critical condition in hospital alongside another three people who suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Two men, aged 23 and 31, had been arrested on suspicion of murder and were in police custody, the force said.

It said it was “keeping an open mind” about the fire and said it could not “rule out any links to wider organised crime at this time”.

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